Caption: State Board of Equalization member Betty Yee holds a 318-vote lead over Assembly Speaker Emeritus John Perez in the see-saw race for the second spot on the November ballot for state controller. (file photo)

State Board of Equalization member Betty Yee holds a 318-vote lead over Assembly Speaker Emeritus John Perez in the see-saw race for the second spot on the November ballot for state controller. Yee regained the lead on June 19 from her fellow Democrat. This is the first time she has begun a day ahead of Perez since last Friday.

Yee has 870,535 votes to Perez's 870,217, according to figures released by the Secretary of State's Office. Both candidates have 21.8 percent of the vote. The estimated number of ballots remaining to be processed stood at 71,711 as of 6 p.m. Thursday June 19 -- 31,862 vote-by-mail ballots, 27,136 provisional ballots and 12,713 ballots that are either damaged and could not be machine- read and need to be remade or were diverted by optical scanners for further review, the Secretary of State's Office said. Perez was 117 votes ahead of Yee entering Thursday's count by county election officials of previously unprocessed ballots.

Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin, a Republican, leads the six-candidate field with 988,198 votes, 24.7 percent. Another Republican, certified public accountant David Evans, is fourth with 839,644 votes, 21 percent, 30,891 votes behind Perez. Under the ``top two'' system adopted by voters in 2010, the top two finishers, regardless of party, will advance to the November general election.

Perez, D-Los Angeles, led Yee by 1,689 votes upon the completion of last week’s ballot count, 388 votes after June 16 and 322 votes after June 13. Yee held a 2,834-vote lead after the completion of the June 11 count and a 4,113-vote lead after the June 12 count. Yee moved into second June 11 after beginning the day in third, 1,128 votes behind Perez.

Perez reclaimed second place June 10. He had trailed Yee by 351 votes when counting ended for the day June 9. When counting from all precincts was completed early June 4, Perez was 2,436 votes ahead of Evans, who was in third place. Evans moved into second place June 5, 1,405 votes ahead of Perez.

Perez moved back into second June 6, 2,725 votes ahead of Evans and 3,177 ahead of Yee. Yee moved into second June 9 and her lead over Perez grew to 1,197 in the initial figures released June 10. Under state law, county election officials must complete the vote counting by July 4. The Secretary of State's Office has until July 11 to review the materials, resolve any reporting discrepancies and compile the 58 county reports for complete election results.